Fish roe is a delicacy in countries like Japan, whose consumers pay high prices for top quality roe. The Japanese are particularly discriminating in relation to foodstuffs such as roe, typically insisting that the roe be as fresh as possible, and that it be attractively packaged. This attention to detail applies not only to the manner in which the roe is presented to the ultimate consumer, but extends back through the chain of production, to the source from which the roe is obtained.
Much of the roe sold in Japan is obtained from salmon and herring caught off the west coast of North America by the fishing fleets of Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. The roe is extracted from the fish and packaged in plants situate in these jurisdictions, from which it is shipped to Japan.
Typically, the roe leaves the processing plant in generally rectangular, flat-bottomed plastic containers. The containers are lined with plastic film before the roe is placed in the container. The film shields the roe from the inner walls of the container and facilitates extraction of the roe from the container. Drainage holes in the film allow fluids to escape into the bottom of the container, which supports the roe-containing liner above a fluid collection region.
Initially, conventional plastic bags were used to line the containers. The bag was placed in the container and filled with a prescribed amount of roe. The top portion of the bag was then gathered (i.e. crushed) together, sealed to close the bag, and flattened down atop the roe. The container's lid was then fastened and the filled container shipped to Japan. However, the Japanese roe importers objected to the unsightly appearance of the flattened, crushed top portion of the bag, which was the first thing they saw when they removed the lid from the container.
To eliminate the unsightly appearance aforesaid, roe processors began using flat strips of plastic film to line the containers. Two strips of appropriate sizes were laid crosswise atop one another and fitted into the container, leaving the ends of the strips protruding over the sides of the container. The roe was placed in the container, atop the overlaid strips, and the protruding ends were then folded over and laid flat atop the roe to give a neat, finished look to the packaged product. Unfortunately, this proved to be quite labour intensive, due the difficulty of maintaining the container and the strips in alignment with one another so that equal lengths of each strip protruded from the container for folding over atop the roe. The problem was exacerbated by the industry practice of printing, on one end of one of the two strips, the trade-mark of the Japanese roe importer for whom the roe was destined. This end was folded and laid atop the roe last, so that the trade-mark appeared prominently when the container lid was removed. However, if the strips were not properly aligned, the trade-mark was off-centre, which troubled the Japanese importer.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing problems by providing a unitary liner having a lower compartment shaped to conform to the interior of the container, and upper flaps which may be folded flat to close the compartment, giving a neat, finished appearance. The lower portion of the unitary liner can easily be positioned squarely within the container and remains in position, so that the upper portions are properly aligned with the container when they are laid flat atop the roe.